


Little Hands and Feet

by orphan_account



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Discussion of Abortion, F/M, Light Angst, mentions of an abusive relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24408499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Five years ago, Feyre Archeron was with a jerk of a guy named Tamlin. The only good thing that came of their relationship was Asher, Feyre's pride and joy, although being a single mother isn't easy. At the park one day, Asher throws sand at a girl named Luna, and her father, Rhysand, isn't too happy about it. Now, Feyre is crying at a park full of children, wondering why those violet eyes make her stomach fill with butterflies and her heart wish she knew more about this mysterious man.
Relationships: Feyre Archeron/Rhysand
Comments: 16
Kudos: 63





	1. Sand

**Author's Note:**

> So... this started as a little one-shot request for someone on tumblr, but now it has turned into... not that. Enjoy.

Feyre’s eyes were glued to her sketchbook. Her fingers, wrapped around a pencil, made short, precise movements over the paper, carefully transferring the image in her head onto the page. Loud giggles and laughter filled the air, but Feyre was savoring the closest thing she got to free time as much as she possibly could. The sound of crying pierced the joyful atmosphere and she looked up long enough to check that it wasn’t her son crying. As soon as her eyes found Asher, still playing happily on the jungle-gym, Feyre returned her attention to her drawing.

The crying quickly got closer, forcing Feyre to turn away from her drawing once again. A tired-looking, but still impossibly put together man and his daughter, who was still sobbing loudly, sat down on the bench next to her. The man glanced over at Feyre only briefly, but it was long enough for her to take in the shocking violet of his eyes. Shaking off the effect it had on her, Feyre checked on Asher once more, only to find that he was now running towards her.

“Asher, honey, what are you doing? What’s in your hands?”

“I finded… I finded sand! We had a snowball fight with sand!” Asher said happily. His mouth was turned up in a gleeful grin, inexplicably proud of himself for some reason that Feyre could not yet fathom. Before she could ask, the man spoke.

“So you’re the kid that was throwing sand at the other children? You got some of it in Luna’s eyes!” His voice was deep and angry, and it filled Feyre with anger too.

“Asher, put down the sand and go play some more, okay? We have to leave in ten minutes.” She said, trying not to sound too tense. Asher nodded obliviously and ran off, sand flying in his wake. Feyre turned her gaze on the man.

“Don’t try to parent my son. I am perfectly capable of telling him what is right and wrong.” His daughter, Luna, sniffled and wiped at her eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry that you were more interested in  _ drawing a picture _ than paying attention to what your child was doing! Now my daughter is hurt because of you!” Feyre’s anger melted away. This five year old was hurt because of her. Because she hadn’t been paying enough attention. Because she wasn’t being a good parent. Her bottom lip quivered slightly and she bit down on it hard, the faint taste of blood filling her mouth.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. The man didn’t seem to notice her sudden change of mood and kept speaking. Feyre, however, didn’t hear a single one of his words. She was too busy trying to hold back the tears and the memories. Flashes of a doctor’s office, a different man yelling, having to leave by herself, they all hit Feyre at once and she lost the battle with her emotions. Tears slipped down her cheeks, dripping off her chin and into the sand. The man stopped talking.

“Woah, hey. Are you- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry.” He seemed flustered. “Luna, are you okay now?” Luna nodded “Okay, go play for a little while longer.” The small girl left and a few beats of awkward silence passed with only the sound of Feyre’s jagged breathing to break the quiet. “I don’t want to make this worse than it already is, but was it what I said?” Feyre took a moment to collect herself, wiping her tears with her sleeve.

“To be honest, I didn’t hear most of what you said.” A few more moments passed in silence.

“What was it then?” He asked. Feyre swallowed roughly.

“You just sounded a lot like someone I used to know. Someone I’m glad I don’t talk with anymore.” She said quietly. The man nodded and finally looked as if he understood that Feyre had no desire to keep talking to him. Then he opened his mouth again.

“My name is Rhysand. My friends just call me Rhys though. He pointed at the girl playing on the swings, the one Asher had hit with sand. “That’s my daughter, Luna.” Feyre sighed, reeled in her emotions, and resigned herself to more conversation with Rhysand.

“I’m Feyre, and you already met my son, Asher.” Rhysand was utterly unfazed by Feyre’s tone and kept talking for a while, Feyre nodding or adding a ‘yeah’ whenever she needed to, until he stopped and glanced at the still open sketchbook in her lap. Feyre snapped it closed and flicked her eyes back up to meet Rhysand’s piercing violet ones almost guiltily.

“You’re very good at drawing, Feyre. Are you an artist?” Feyre actually laughed at that.

“Do you have any idea how much money most artists make? Almost nothing. I wouldn’t be able to support myself and Asher if I was an artist. I’m a waitress at a diner down the street.” Rhysand actually flinched.

“You don’t have anyone else to help you financially? Asher’s dad doesn’t have a job?”

“Asher’s  _ dad  _ is a piece of shit that thinks he convinced me to get an abortion,” Feyre said, an angry fire blazing in her eyes. Rhysand, for the first time since Feyre had met him, was left speechless.

“That’s… that’s terrible. I’m sorry you were ever with him,” he finally said. His hands were clenched, Feyre noticed, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Yeah, well… I did get the most important thing in my life out of that relationship, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time,” she said, the flames in her eyes now gone.

“True. Feyre, I’m afraid I really must get going now. Luna has dance in an hour and I have to get her some dinner before then. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime?”

“Uh, yeah. Maybe. See you around.” Rhysand stood from the bench and walked into the playground. Feyre kept her eyes on the large footprints his shoes made in the sand until he was out of sight behind a piece of playground equipment. With a sigh, she gathered her sketchbook and pencil and shoved them in her purse. She scanned the playground for Asher, finally spotting him on the monkey bars. He was by no means tall enough to actually use them properly, but he seemed utterly unbothered, opting instead to cling to one of the ladders and hang upside down. Feyre sighed heavily and set off across the sand.

“Asher, it’s time to go.”

“Noooo! Don’t want to go!” Asher wailed. Great, Feyre thought. A tantrum was the last thing she needed right now, in her already emotionally distraught state.

“We need to go make dinner! Remember, we are going to have mac and cheese tonight? Do you want to help make mac and cheese?” She said desperately. The tears that had been shining in Asher’s eyes disappeared with a blink.

“Mac an’ cheese?”

“Yeah, mac and cheese! You want to help me make it?” Asher nodded excitedly and hopped off the monkey bars. “Okay, then we have to go home now, okay? Can you wipe the sand off your hands for me?” He swatted his hands against his shirt quickly and then looked up at Feyre before taking off, running as fast as his little five year old legs could take him towards the parking lot.

“Hurry up mommy!” He yelled back. Feyre exhaled tiredly and jogged after him.


	2. Ice Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feyre and Asher go out for ice cream and see someone they weren't expecting to.

Piercing violet eyes met steely blue-gray ones from across the parking lot. Feyre tripped over the curb.

“Mommy, can I get ice cream today?” Asher begged for the fiftieth time in the last hour. Feyre shook her head, trying desperately to clear it, and looked down at her son.

“Uh, yeah, sure. We can stop to get some on the way home.” Feyre said distractedly. She looked around, searching for a tall figure with dark hair to no avail. She sighed and walked around her car to open the door for Asher before getting in the car. “Seat belt buckled?” She asked.

“Yup!” Asher said cheerfully. Feyre backed out of the parking space and then they were on the road, headed to the old fashioned ice cream parlor near their apartment building.

As soon as they had slid into a booth with their ice cream, Asher’s face already covered in the stuff, a familiar voice floated into the building.

“... can get one scoop, okay?” Feyre hesitated only briefly before turning towards the door. Sure enough, there stood Rhysand and Luna, getting in line to order. Feyre ignored the way her heart wanted Rhysand to turn around and see her. She had met the guy less than a week ago and only talked to him once! It wasn’t even a real conversation either. She didn’t know anything about him. She couldn’t afford to be thinking like that. Feyre turned her attention back to Asher, who had managed to not only get half of his ice cream on the table, but get the other half smeared across his face and hands.

“Oh, Asher, no. Let’s get some napkins to clean you up. Did you even eat any of the ice cream?” Asher made a face and nodded, pouting slightly. “Alright. Just stay here and… try not to touch anything until we can get all this mess wiped up,” Feyre said. She turned away and rolled her eyes, walking quickly over to the napkins. She was so distracted that she didn’t even realize there was someone already reaching to grab some until her hand bumped into theirs.

“I’m sorry-” she began as she backed up a step, gesturing for the man to grab the napkins first. She looked up, smiling awkwardly, and ended up staring right into Rhysand’s eyes. “Oh,” she squeaked out. Rhysand laughed.

“Hello, Feyre darling.” Feyre hoped he wouldn’t notice the blush that spread across her cheeks with the name. From the way his lips twisted up in a little smirk, she knew she wasn’t that lucky.

“Um, hi. I didn’t expect to see you here,” she said.

“I told you I’d see you around some time, didn’t I? It was bound to happen sooner or later. I thought for sure you’d seen me in the school parking lot earlier too.”

“I knew it was you! I just got distracted with Asher for a minute and when I looked back up you were gone.” It was then that Feyre realized they were still standing in front of the napkins and Asher was still sitting back at their table, covered in ice cream. “Asher got a little messy with his ice cream, I better get him some napkins before the entire place is covered in it,” she said. Rhysand nodded and moved back, allowing her to grab a handful of napkins and move back.

“Maybe Luna and Asher could have a playdate sometime? They’re both in kindergarten, aren’t they?”

“Yeah! I should give you my number so we can set one up!” Feyre reached into her pocket with the hand that wasn’t currently holding the napkins and pulled out her phone, trying to seem like she wasn’t excited about getting Rhysand’s phone number. “Here, you can put your number in and I’ll text you later.” He nodded and quickly created a new contact.

“Hopefully any future playdates go better than their first encounter,” Rhysand said, chuckling. Feyre furrowed her eyebrows, briefly confused, before she realized what he was talking about.

“Oh! Yes. Well, I have to get going. See you later!” She waved an awkward goodbye, smiling at Luna, and headed back to the table.

After Asher was as clean as he was going to get, they went out to the car. While they were on the road, Feyre decided it was as good a time as ever to bring up having a playdate with Luna.

“Honey? Do you remember the girl, Luna, from the park last week? You were…” she trailed off, trying to think of the best way to say ‘throwing sand at her’ without saying it outright. “You were having a sand fight with her,” Feyre decided on. She glanced at Asher in the rear-view mirror. His face lit up.

“Luna is in my class at school! She sits at my table and she shares crayons with me!”

“That’s great, honey. Do you want to have a playdate with Luna sometime? We can go to the park with her, or she can come over to our house and play.”

“YEAH!” Asher yelled. Feyre had to grip the steering wheel tighter to avoid swerving into the other lane of traffic.

“Okay, then! I’ll get a time set up with her dad.” Feyre pushed down the little flutter of happiness in her chest and focused on driving.

When they got back to their apartment building, Asher immediately took off running to his room. Feyre raised her eyebrows, checked to make sure there weren’t any sharp objects missing from the kitchen or living room and, reassured that he wasn’t going to do anything dangerous, collapsed onto the sofa.

Her sketchbook sat on the coffee table, pulling her in like a magnet. Feyre glanced at the pile of dishes in the sink, then back to the sketchbook, and promptly picked it up, along with the pencil she kept with it at all times. She turned to the next blank page and dropped the book into her lap.

The ideas in her head were a jumble, so Feyre closed her eyes and let her hands pick something to draw. Slowly, lines came to life on paper. Two ovals sat on their sides, a curved triangle, nothing exactly precise. When she ran out of things to add, Feyre blinked down at the page.

“I’m so screwed,” she whispered as she stared at Rhysand’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for coming back for more! I'm super excited for chapter 3, so look out for an update next Wednesday. I live for your comments, so let me know what you think!  
> As per usual, go follow my tumblr @rhysmybaby - or don't, I'm not here to tell you what to do. Have a wonderful week!


	3. Tuesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feyre sets up a play date for Asher and Luna.

Feyre refused to acknowledge the butterflies in her stomach as she picked up her phone to text Rhysand. This was stupid. She was acting like a middle schooler trying to talk to their crush. All she was doing was setting up a time for Luna and Asher to have a playdate. At least, that’s what Feyre told herself, but her thumbs hovered over the keys for a moment too long for it to just be about the kids .

Feyre started typing out a message only to erase the entire thing and start over. ’ _ So, when are you and Luna free for a playdate?’  _ Feyre stared at the tiny letters until they blurred together, then deleted that too. She must have written ten different messages before finally settling on ‘ _ Hey. What days are you and Luna free to meetup with Asher and I for a playdate?’  _ It seemed casual enough, Feyre thought. She glanced at the clock. 7:35 pm. That was a normal time to text your child’s friend’s parent, right? Before she could overthink it any further, she pressed send and set her phone down on the counter. Although doing chores was better than stressing herself out about the text, Feyre still groaned as her eyes landed on the dishes in the sink.

Halfway through the stack of dirty dishes, Feyre’s phone buzzed. The plate she was holding slipped out of her hands, sending water splashing onto her shirt. She swore under her breath, picked up a towel, and dried off her hands. She leaned over the cold counter to grab her phone. The screen was lit up with one new notification- a text from Rhysand.

‘ _ Hello, Feyre. Luna has dance on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I work late on Wednesday, but we are free Monday, Friday, and weekends.’ _ Feyre blinked. Even in a text message, his grammar was impeccable. She wasn’t couldn’t exactly say she was surprised though. She quickly unlocked her phone and opened the message, already typing out a reply practically before the screen had even loaded.

‘ _ Great! I work Saturdays, so that doesn’t work. See you at the park on Sunday at 1?’  _ Feyre pressed send and let out a slow breath. This wasn’t a date. It wasn’t. But no matter how many times she repeated the phrase to herself, even after she went back to washing the dishes, and while she sorted laundry after that, she couldn’t stop smiling. Sunday at one. Her phone buzzed once more.

‘ _ See you then, Feyre darling.’  _ Feyre could just hear the words, see the smirk. She closed her eyes, letting herself imagine it for a split second. Then Asher’s bedroom door creaked open and out he stepped, eyes still bleary with sleep. Feyre glanced at the time. It was already past ten-thirty.

“What are you doing up honey? Is everything okay?” Asher walked closer, and as he passed into the more well lit area of the living room, Feyre could see how his eyes were red and puffy, tears still streaked down his cheeks. “Did you have a bad dream?” Asher nodded and sniffled. Any and all thoughts of Rhysand flew right out of Feyre’s head as she entered Mom Mode.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked gently. Asher, who usually never stopped talking, just shook his head. “Okay, Ash. Come here,” Feyre said, moving a pile of laundry out of the way and opening her arms. Asher sniffled again and walked into her embrace. Feyre tightened her grip on the little boy, rubbing soothing circles on his back.

“It’s okay. I’ve got you,” she murmured. After it had been a few minutes and Asher had relaxed so much that he had collapsed fully into Feyre’s lap, she picked him up and walked down the short hallway into Asher’s room, placing him carefully in his bed. “I love you,” she whispered. She pressed a kiss to his forehead and backed quietly out of the room, leaving the door cracked open behind her.

As soon as she was back in the living room with her laundry piles, Feyre let out a deep sigh. Every kid had the occasional nightmare, and Asher had been just like all of those kids for most of his life, but they had started happening more frequently a few months ago. Feyre had been so concerned after two months of nightmares that a couple weeks ago she had called Asher’s pediatrician to see what he thought. All she got was a speech on how it was perfectly normal for kids to go through a period of having more nightmares, and the best thing she could do was to comfort Asher when they happened and let him decide if and when he wanted to talk about them. So far, he hadn’t said a single word about them.

Feyre finished up the laundry and went to bed, but not before creating a new event on her calendar for Sunday at one. It was only Tuesday night, and she was already distracted.

Sunday came agonizingly slowly. It seemed that instead of less than a week passing, it must have been a month. However, a quick glance at the date on her phone assured Feyre that it was indeed the Sunday of the park meetup with Rhysand and Luna.

Although Feyre was up at 7:30 to do her workout in the living room, Asher didn’t wake until almost nine. He had had another nightmare that night, so Feyre refused to wake him up. They had pancakes for breakfast and played with toy superheroes for most of the morning, then ate ham sandwiches and potato chips for lunch. The whole time, Feyre couldn’t stop glancing at the clock, waiting for it to be time to go to the park, and then subsequently reprimanding herself for focusing on Rhysand instead of her son.

After lunch, Feyre made Asher get ready. While he was occupied, Feyre took the time to put on some light makeup, just some concealer to hide the evidence of multiple nights up with Asher, and a coat of mascara. She put on a pair of jeans and a tank top with a light blue cardigan over it to keep out some of the early fall chill. When both she and Asher were ready to go, she grabbed her purse and car keys, locked the door to the apartment, and headed out to the park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this was kind of a filler chapter, but fear not! Next chapter is much longer. Let me know what you think so far!


End file.
